Retainer for sanitary toilet seat covers



March 23, 1937., R. A. BACHMANN 2,074,318

RETAINER FOR SANITARY TOILET SEAT COVERS Filed Sept. 29, 1956 2Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR MMQ ATTO R N EY March 23, 1937. A BACHMANN2,074,318

RETAINER FOR SANITARY TOILET SEAT COVERS Filed Sept. 29,.1936 '2Sheets-Sheet 2 I I u- MW 22 1Q, INVENTOR Re s? ATTORNEY 55 sition;

Patented Mar. 23, 1937 OFFICE RETAINER FORSANITARY TOILET SEAT COVERSRobert Alexander Bachmann, New York, N. Y. Application September 29,1936, Serial No. 103,100

'1 Claims. (01. 4-242) This invention relates to a retainer for sanitarytoilet seat covers, the principal object of the invention being toprovide a device of this character which will effectively clamp a singlepaper cover in position on the seat and prevent the adherence of thecover to the body of the user, said device being readily releasablethereby to permit the cover to be changed.

A further object of the invention is to provide 7 a device of thecharacter set forth in which the parts of the device are so disposedthat they do not come into contact with the body of the user.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear as thedescription proceeds.

In the drawings accompanying this specification,

Fig. 1 is a plan View of a water closet bowl, showing the same with thewooden cover broken away so as to disclose one half of the seat with oneform of the improved retainer applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken approximately on the lineIIII of Fig. 1, and illustrating the manner in which a paper cover isretained on the seat;

Fig. 3 is a broken away side view of a water closet bowl with its woodenseat and cover in place and showing the retainer applied thereto, thebroken lines illustrating the raised position of the retainer;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but illustrating the retainerapplied to a wooden seat of the type in which the front portion isomitted and showing a modified form of means for operating the retainer;

Fig. 5 is a half plan view of the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 4; a

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken approximately on line VI-VIof Fig. 5 and illus- I trating the cross-sectional form of the retainer7, the lower portion of the bowl being broken away;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken approximately on lineIXIX of Fig. 10, illustrating the latch mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and.

. 3 for maintaining the retainer in operative po- Fig. 10'is a sectionalview taken approximately on line X-X of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is an enlarged detail, partly sectional plan view of the form oflatch and its supporting bracket shown in Figs. 7 andB;

Fig. 12 is a partly sectional end view'of the latch and bracket shown inFig. 11; and

Fig. 13 is a broken away side view of said latch and bracket.

Referring to the drawings, the water closet bowl and its hinged woodencover are designated A and B wherever they appear, and the form ofwooden seat shown in Figs. 1 to 3 is designated C, while that form shownin Figs. 4 to 8 is designated C. All of these parts are of usualconstruction.

Secured in the flange of the water closet bowl are a pair of posts I,details of which are shown in Figs 9 and 10, each of said posts having aflange or bead l which rests on the top surface of the bowl, the postsbeing threaded at their lower ends for engagement with nuts 2 below theflange of the bowl, as indicated in Fig. 3. Each of the scribed.

The shaft 6 mounted in the bearings of the brackets 3 and 4 projects atboth endsbeyond said brackets, and on one end of the shaft a collar 1is-secured by any suitable means, such for instance as a pin 8 extendingdiametrically through the shaft and collar,-as indicated in Figs. 1 and.'7.

The retainer illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, comprises a band or strap 9,preferably of metal, in encircling relation to the seat C and of suchsize that it will snugly engage the edge of the seat below the topsurface thereof, so that in the normal position of the strap its topedge will not be in contact with the body of the user. The free ends ofthe strap 9 are secured on the opposite ends of the shaft 6 for movementtherewith so that rocking of the shaft will swing the strap in anangular path toward and away from the seat.

On that end of the shaft 6 opposite from the collar I is secured ahousing I0, which, like the collar 1, may be fixed for rocking movementwith the shaftby means of a diametrically extending pin II. Between thehousing In and the bracket 4, a coil spring I2 encircles the shaft 6,one end of said spring being anchored in the bracket 4 and the other endin the shaft 6, the tension 5 of the spring being such that it will rockthe shaft so as to carry the retainer 9 to the position shown in brokenlines in Fig. 3.

The post carrying the bracket 4 is provided with a laterally extendinghook-shaped lug I3, 10 best seen in Fig. 9, which extends parallel withthe shaft 6 toward the inner end of the housing II]. The said housing I0is provided with a recess disposed parallel with the shaft 6 and in saidrecess is disposed-a plunger latch I4, normally maintained in projectedposition by a spring I5 disposed between the end of the plunger and theendwall of the recess in the housing. The end of the hook lug l3 and theprojected end of the plunger are so formed that the said projected endwill engage the under face of 'the' hook'as shown clearly in Fig. 9 soas to lock the shaft 6 against rocking movement and thereby maintain thestrap 9 in engagement with the edge of seat A. On the other hand, theouter edges or faces of the hook -and plungerare so bevelled that uponmovement of the retainingstrap from the inoperative position shown inbroken lines in Fig.. 3 to the.opera tive position shown in full lines,the contacting outer' faces of the plunger and hook will exert a cam-action on the plunger thereby forcing it into its recess-against thetension of the spring I5 until the shouldered lip of the plunger passesbeneath the end. of the hook.

' For releasing the plunger from engagement with the hook, a bell-cranklever I6 is pivotally -mounted-as at I! (Fig. 9) in a slot formed in thehousing I II, the longer arm of the lever extending a' short distancebeyond the end of the housing.

40 The housing isv further provided with a diametri- =cally extendingrecess in communication with the recess in which the plunger operatesand with the slot in which the lever I6 is mounted. "That portion of theplunger which crosses the said diametrically extending recess isprovided with a diametrically extending opening into which the short armofthe lever I6 extends, so that upon depression of the outer end of thelever the plunger will be forced inward against 'the tension of springI5, thus releasing itself from the hook I3, whereupon the shaft 6 willbe rotated under the tension of spring I2 thereby carrying the retainingstrap 9 into the broken lineposition shown in Fig. 3.

In' the form shown in Figs. 4 and 5 the wooden seat C is of the typethat is cut out at the "front of the closet. Consequently the retainerstrap 9 is made up of two arcuate members, one-ateach-side of the seat.Becauseof the necessity for greater rigidity in strap members of thistype theyare preferably provided with -a'longitudinally extending rib asshown in cross section in Fig. 6.

'In the retainer-operating means shown in Figs.-4 and'*5, the spring andlatch mechanism is dispensed with, and a counter-balancing weight 2llutilized in place thereof. The supporting posts are identical with thoseherein- 1 before described, except that the bearing brackets 18 on thetwo posts are duplicates, one of the other, as are also the collars l9secured'on the ends of the shaft 6, the strap members' S being securedon opposite ends of said shaft in Ijuxtaposition to said collars re-.75-spectively. One of the strap-formingmembers Jill the forms alreadydescribed.

9 extends a short distance back of the shaft 6 and carries at its freeend the weight 20, and an operating handle 2| is secured on the end ofshaft 6 in position to be conveniently operated by the hand or foot ofthe operator. In this 5 form of the device, in order to raise theretaining strap members out of engagement with the seat it is necessaryonly to give the handle 2| a lift sufiicient to disengage the retainingmembers from the seat, whereupon the counterbalancing 10 weight 20 willact to rotate the shaft and thus carry the retainer to vertical positionas illustrated by broken lines in the form shown in "Fig.3.

.operating means which, unlike those hereinbefore described, isapplicable only to the type of seat in connection with which theretainer is made up of two side members. In this form, the post andshaft arrangement is the same as 20 The device differs from that ofFigs. 1 to 3, in that the housing 22 secured on the end of shaft 6 is.provided with perforated ears or lugs 23 between which a rearwardlyextending arm 9 formedr integral'with the retainer member 9 is pivotedas indicated at 24. The housing 22 is provided with a recess extendinginward from the side 'thereof adjacent the arm 19*, in which recess isdisposed a coil spring 25 exerting its tension on the arm 9 thereby tomaintain the retainer member 9 in snug engagement with the edge of seatC. For locking the parts in the position shown in the drawings, thebracket 4 is provided with a laterally extending lug 26 similar to the."35 lug I3 shown in Fig. 9. The lug 26, however, engages the top surfaceof the retainer member 9 and thus prevents rotation of the shaft 1thereby maintaining the retainer member in engagement with the seat. Acoil spring 21 40 encircles the shaft 6 and is anchored at one end inthe shaft and at its other end in bracket 4 whereby, .upon release ofthe retainer member "from the lug 26 the shaft will be rotated and thuscarry the retainer members to vertical posi 45 tion as above described.This release is accomplished by exerting a sidewise push on the leverarm 9 thereby compressing spring 25 and rocking the retainer member onitspivot so that the retainer is released from the retaining 50 lug 26and will move upward as the shaft 6 rotates under the tension of spring21.

In all forms of the device herein shown a double stop member is providedfor preventing over-rotation of the shaft in either direction..55This-stop member comprises a collar 28 secured to the shaft 6 by adiametrically extending pin, said collar having a pair of arms 29 socurved that when the shaft has rotated to the proper point in onedirection or the other one of said.60 arms will contact with the flangeof the toilet bowl and thus prevent further rotation of the shaft. Thearms 29 are provided with flanges 30 at their free ends and each of saidflanges is preferably provided with a facing pad of rubber 65 or othersoft material for cushioning the shock of contact with the bowl.

It is believed that the operation of the retainer will be readilyunderstood from the foregoing description. With the retainer in raisedposition 70 shown in broken lines in Fig. 3, a sanitary paper cover 3 I,Figs. 2 and 6, which may be any one of the numerous types now on themarket, is placed in position on top of the wooden seat. The retainer isthen operated to bring it to the retaining position shown in full linesin the drawings, in which position the retainer will securely clamp thepaper cover around the edge of the seat and so retain it firmly in placewhile in use. After use, the retainer is operated to release the papercover and the latter is removed from the seat and a new one substituted.It will thus be seen that I have provided a device so located andconstructed that no part thereof comes in contact with the body of theuser, and which efficiently holds a single paper cover in place andprevents the clinging of parts of the paper cover to the body of theuser upon rising from the toilet seat.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. The combination with a water closet seat and a removable sanitarycover thereon, of a pivotally mounted member in encircling engagementwith the edge of the seat below the top surface thereof thereby toretain the cover in position on said seat, means for holding saidretaining member in said position, and means automatically operativeupon release of said holding means to swing said retaining member on itspivot thereby to release said cover.

2. The combination with a water closet seat and a removable sanitarycover thereon, of a pivotally mounted member in encircling engagementwith the edge of the seat below the top surface thereof thereby toretain the cover in position on said seat, means for holding saidretaining member in said position, means automatically operative uponrelease of said holding means to swing said retaining member on itspivot thereby to release said cover and means for limiting the swingingmovement of said retaining member.

3. The combination with a water closet seat and a removable sanitarycover thereon, or" a pivotally mounted member in encircling engagementwith the edge of the 'seat below the top surface thereof thereby toretain the cover in position on said seatQlatch mechanism for holdingthe retaining member in said position, and tension means acting on saidretaining member and effective on the release of said latch mechanism toswing the retaining member on its pivot away from said seat.

4. The combination with a water closet seat and a removable sanitarycover thereon, of a pivotally mounted member in encircling engagementwith the edge of the seat below the top surface thereof thereby toretain the cover in position on said seat, latch mechanism including afixed latch member secured on the water closet and a spring-actuatedlatch member movable with the retaining member and cooperating with thefixed member for holding the retaining member in position on said seat,manually operable means for disengaging said latch members, and tensionmeans acting on the pivot of said retaining member and effective on thedisengagement of the latch members to swing the retaining member awayfrom the seat.

5. The combination with a water closet seat and a removable sanitarycover thereon, of a pivotally mounted member in encircling engagementwith the edge of the seat below the top surface thereof thereby toretain the cover in posi tion on said seat, latch mechanism including afixed latch member secured on the water closet and a spring-actuatedlatch member movable with the retaining member into engagement with saidfixed member for holding the retaining member in position on said seat,a manually operable lever in engagement with said movable latch memberfor moving it against the tension of its spring out of engagement withthe fixed latch member, and tension means acting on the pivot of saidretaining member and efiective on the disengagement of the latch membersto swing the retaining member away from the seat.

6. The combination with a water closet seat and a removable sanitarycover thereon, of means for retaining said cover on said seat, saidmeans comprising a shaft mounted for rotation on the water closet, aretaining member secured on said shaft for swinging movement relative tothe seat and adapted to engage the edge of the seat below the topsurface thereof, tension means operative on the shaft to rotate the samethereby to swing the retaining member away from said seat, and means forholding the retaining member in engagement with the seat against theaction of said tension means.

7. The combination with a water closet seat and a removable sanitarycover thereon, of means for retaining said cover on said seat, saidmeans comprising a shaft mounted for rotation on the water closet, apair of retaining members secured on said shaft for swinging movementrelative to the seat and adapted to engage the seat along its oppositeside edges below the top sur-- face of the seat, means operative torotate the shaft thereby to swing said retaining members away from theseat, and means cooperating with one of said retaining members forholding the shaft against rotation.

ROBERT ALEXANDER BACHMANN.

